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CHENNAI: Storming about wearing a typical white apron, he initially seems to be like a toughie. The grim sort. Having said that, his stern deal with, with a neatly curled handlebar moustache, brightens up as he beams and welcomes me to his war place at Hyatt Regency Trivandrum.
Chef Senthil Kumar has been at the helm of the hotel’s kitchen for the previous 8 months and has built a mark on the city’s gastronomy scene with his delicacies. The Tamil Nadu native, who is ace at Indian and Arabic cuisines, engages in a tete-a-tete with TNIE on his thrilling culinary journey spanning two decades
A chef is born
Born in a middle-course household in Chennai, Senthil did a hospitality and catering training course with an eye on work overseas. He says he never ever even dreamt of starting to be an government chef. “My only base was the housekeeping and cooking knowledge I had obtained as a result of serving to my mom considering that childhood,” he states. “Being a fresher, it was hard to find a work. So, on finishing the system in 2000, I worked in lots of compact accommodations and even road foods shops. I nevertheless keep in mind the initial wage supply I got was Rs 2,000 for each month.”
Senthil, who is in his 40s, is grateful to his “strict” superiors for moulding him into the confident chef he is these days. “The current generation is sensitive. It is challenging to come across competent candidates in the hospitality sector. Our era received rigorous training. My suitable center finger received severely injured after as I was built to have fuel cylinders as part of education, and it fell on my hand. I was only 20 at that time but did not give up. Coaching began with housekeeping and cleansing operate. Culinary training came substantially afterwards. These days, a massive variety of hospitality management students drop out as they are hesitant to have out such chores.”
Making his mark
The turning stage in Senthil’s journey arrived in 2003 when he joined the Hyatt group in Dubai. His expertise got recognition as he curated South Indian dishes. It was his mother’s idli and exclusive tomato chutney and house-type cooking that impressed foodies as effectively as his bosses. “Even now, my consolation food is idli and tomato chutney, and biryani,” Senthil smiles. “While cooking, my favourites are butter hen and, in standard, South Indian dishes.”
Not that Senthil excels only in Indian fare. ‘You identify it, you got it’ — that is his mantra. “Once, when doing the job at a Gurgaon cafe, I manufactured salmon steak for a foreign guest. He liked it and preferred to satisfy me,” says Senthil. “When he saw me, nonetheless, he uncovered it difficult that a South Indian experienced organized the dish. That stated, discrimination or preconceived notions dependent on skin colour and nativity does exist.”
Senthil adds he finds Thiruvananthapuram ‘homely’. “For the breakfast buffet below, I released the genuine South Indian vada-curry and mutton paaya curry,” he states. “For residence-model cooking, I aim on procuring items with a community link, specially fish and vegetables. As a chef, I come to feel we have to have to have a relationship with our roots.”
Fusion food
Currently being the government chef at the restaurant, Senthil has been mixing common and western fares. “Mutton masala burger is an case in point. Even pasta can be prepared with butter chicken gravy,” he says. Chatting of well-liked possibilities in Kerala, Senthil claims, while Malayalis enjoy to take a look at global cuisines, at the end of the day, most like eating indigenous dishes.
“Over the past 5 several years, intercontinental travelling amongst the Malayali local community has increased. So, they are properly conscious of international cuisines and ingredients,” he adds. “I have been shocked by their detailed know-how of international meals. So, it is a problem for me, as a chef, to match their anticipations.”
